That Mesmerizing Love
by strawbr'yblond periwinkle love
Summary: Edaline's always been a good girl who loves to laugh. When she meets someone who makes her laugh, can she get past his bad reputation? Or is he even really as bad as they say? Only K plus in case it gets a little angsty, it's probably not.


**Hey Guys! I'm here with another story! It started as a one-shot from my recent Anniversary post, then it developed into a three-shot, (is that a thing?) and now it's a full-fledged minific. (to me, mini is less than say 10 chapters, so yeah.) I didn't think you'd mind, since there's comparatively little Gradaline content on here.**

 **So enjoy!**

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Edaline looked at the milling congregation of elves before her, trying to quell the pit in her stomach. Somewhere in there very well could stand her future husband.

"You're quaking like a leaf," Juline's voice piped from her elbow. "That's no way to make a good impression."

"Easy for you to say," grumbled Edaline, glancing at her sister's bouncy, red-haired shadow. The two thirteen-year-olds hadn't been separated for more than a few days since they'd first met in preparatory school at seven.

Edaline had been checking boys off her mental list as they were introduced. It wasn't that she had a photographic memory, but she'd spent so much time staring at the names on her scroll, she knew them all by heart. It seemed there was someone missing, though she couldn't put her finger on it…

"Grady Ruewen," announced the elf in charge of- well, announcing; someone-or-other her parents had hired for the evening.

Edaline gave a slight start. She'd been surprised to see that name on her scroll, given his reputation - pretty much the exact opposite of her own. Oh well, she thought. There was no accounting for genetic compatibility.

Reputation was just about all she knew of Grady Ruewen. He was in her level at Foxfire, of course, but they had completely different friend groups. Well, she had a group. She saw him in the study hall sometimes, and heard his name often. Usually in the sentence _"It wasn't my fault, Grady made me do it!"_ If she recalled correctly, he was even now working on an animal preserve as a punishment for the latest school escapade.

"Half and hour late," drawled Juline quietly. "Either he's as scatterbrained as Kesler or he didn't care enough to be on time."

"I'm not scatterbrained!" protested Kesler indignantly.

"Oh, _what?_ Are you kidding me of course you are!" Juline's voice began to rise. "What else do you call…"

"Take it outside my party, you two," hissed Edaline dangerously, keeping her face pleasant. "I swear you already squabble like a married couple."

Suddenly, she noticed Grady coming toward her. She had half a second to fuddle with her skirts before he stopped in front of her.

"Hi, Miss Edaline," he said, then cleared his throat. "I just wanted to apologize for being late. I was all set to come, but then we got a T-Rex in quite suddenly and they needed me to help." He looked down mournfully at his suit, which had obviously been quite fine when he put it on, but now had bits of bright green fluff stuck to it. "This stuff just won't come off," he sighed, plucking at a clump. "But the T-Rex, what a beauty! She gave us a fight. Why, she was all ready to-" he cut himself off. "I'm sorry, Miss Edaline. I didn't mean to bore you, or take up your time."

"No!" Edaline smiled. There was something about the way Grady spoke that made her want to laugh, and she loved to laugh. The party had been so stiff and formal, that only half an hour into it she'd felt about ready to suffocate. "Please, continue."

"Really?" Grady's face brightened. "Well, she came in, I don't know where from. It seems doubtful that there was a wild T-Rex running around, but who knows. Anyway, the first thing I heard of the whole thing was when they called me down because she was trying to eat a pegasus. The poor thing was all bloo- I'm sorry," he cut in again, seeing Edaline's face turn green. "You really don't want to hear all this."

"No, I do, really," said Edaline, and she found she did. "Just, fewer gory details, please."

By the time Grady had finished the story, Edaline was laughing, and Grady was, too. She got some strange looks for it, but she didn't care. This was her party. Why shouldn't she laugh?

"I'll let you get back to your guests now," Grady said. He turned to go- and nearly smacked onto another elf, Jenset.

"Grady Ruewen," Jenset said, the scorn obvious in his voice. "What are you doing here? Mesmerized your way in, did you?"

"I was invited." Grady choked out the words.

"Oh, really? What were you, last on the list? Edaline shouldn't be wasting her time on you, especially since I was certainly the first."

"He was not last," snapped Edaline, "and the rest is none of your business." She flounced aside. She was angry, and didn't want Jenset to know how close to home he'd hit.

She'd never thought much of Jenset. He came from a good family, (his mother was a Vacker) and had indeed been the first on her list, but something about him just put her on edge. She hadn't been able to put it into words before, but as she watched Grady's face, flushed redder than Dilong fluff, she remembered all the times she'd heard Grady being blamed for things in school. More often than not, it was Jenset doing the accusing.

What angered her most was that Jenset had decided she was in the bag as his wife. It didn't seem to matter what she wanted. Or, more accurately, he just couldn't imagine she didn't want it.

Edaline was wondering if there was going to be a scene between the three of them, and how to get out of it, when Kesler and Juline walked by, apparently still arguing.

"What do you mean you don't know? Don't you know what you did to the punch?" Juline sounded only mildly annoyed to Edaline's experienced ears, but Grady and Jenset looked up in alarm.

"I mean, I just did something!" wailed Kesler. "It just kinda happened!"

"And you say you're not scatterbrained? Give me that." Juline swiped for the glass in Kesler's hand, but the boy jerked it away.

"Don't! It could explode!" he warned in a very high-pitched, crackling voice. But his motion had been too exaggerated. The doctored punch flew from the glass and hit Jenset in the face.

"Ow!" the boy howled, furiously dabbing at his eyes with a sleeve. Juline gasped and grabbed a napkin, but the damage had been done. Wherever the punch had touched him, Jenset's skin was turning a purplish red and peeling off. Grady stared in shock. Edaline tried to cough up an apology, even though she wasn't a bit sorry for the accident. Juline started to giggle.

Kesler just beamed. "It didn't explode! That's excellent! So that's what it was! A powerful exfoliant! This is genius, pure genius!"

Jenset managed to stop his incoherent screaming long enough to growl "genius? It's a torture potion! How dare you come so close to my person with it!"

"It was an accident!" Edaline rushed to Kesler's defense. "Can't you see that?" Her temper was beginning to return. She hated his pompous, selfish attitude.

"Note to self," Kelser murmured, as if he'd retreated into a world without screams and shouts. "Put a numbing agent in." He shot a disdainful look at Jenset. "But, make it optional."

Edaline couldn't help it. She started to laugh. Juline was quick to follow, and even Grady began to chuckle. Jensen looked offended and enraged, and Kesler looked confused, but he was used to having the girls laugh at his oddities.

In the end, Jenset had to be taken home. Kesler and Juline were banned from the punch bowl, and in short order from the dance floor as well after an incident involving a potion made from ripplefluffs that made the polished marble dissolve into a soapy mess. Edaline managed to dance with everyone, including Grady, and had a marvelous time. When it was time for everyone to leave, she shook each boy's hand and thanked them for coming. When Grady walked by, her smile may have been warmer than before.

"Come by again sometime?" She said shyly.

Grady grinned. "I'm going to take you up on that," he warned.

Edaline hoped he would.


End file.
